Even to talk of amaXhosa as a nation is slightly misleading, for they have always been a disunited, non-homogenised people who happen to speak a Nguni language now known as Xhosa. The white settler encounter and subsequent British confiscation and colonisation of their land prompted further division. In the beginning, amaXhosa leaders and nation founders, like Rharhabe, aligned themselves to the gun power of either the Boers, or the British, or in Ngqika’s case, to subdue and rule over other Nguni tribes. Ndlambe consolidated his power through a prolonged Boer alliance, which forced Ngqika to eventually rely on the British. However, after the Third Frontier Wars, when it became clear that the white settlers posed a greater potential of dispossessing amaXhosa of their land, these Xhosa tribes/nations began uniting and concentrating their military forces against British land invasion. Nxele led the first organised battle on those terms when they attacked the emerging town of Grahamstown in 1819.
AmaNgqika had just been bailed by the British after their crushing defeat at the Battle of Amalinde they mostly stayed out of the Grahamstown War, known to amaXhosa as the Nxele War. It is a known fact among Xhosa history that many of amaNgqika people participated as small groups or in individual capacities in the Nxele war. One glaring exception among amaXhosa, who chose British protection on unwavering principle, was Nkosi Kama (c. 1798-1875), the youngest son of Nkosi Chungwa of amaGqunukhwebe. Kamastone, where the Bulhoek Massacre occurred, is named after him. He was the first Xhosa chief to officially and publicly convert to Christianity [Strictly speaking, Dyani Tshatshu (c. 1791-1868), prince of amaNtinde, is the first chief convert. He was sent as a young boy to be raised in Bethelsdorp Mission under the supervision of Theodorus Van Der Kemp and James Read by his father]. Nkosi Chungwa was one of the Xhosa native kings to be brutally killed by the lethal combination of Mfengu/British regiment during the process of clearing the Zuurveld for white settlers. Kama and his elder brother (Phatho) were young boys when this happened. Kama consistently fought on the British side, something that earned him the animosity of his brethren, especially his elder brother and heir to the Gqunukhwebe throne, Nkosi Phatho. His skin was probably saved only by the fact that he married Nkosi Maqoma’s sister, Queen Nongwane. Their mortal remains are buried together in Xesi, Middledrift.
Fleeing from his brother, Nkosi Kama had designs of settling around the Bloemfontein area by invitation of Theophilus Shepstone, the British statesman that devised a system of administering Africans based on Brownlee’s policies. Overnighting on the banks of Ncerha, he was overwhelmed by fear as he heard the drum beats of his brother after him. It is said that it was during that foggy night he composed the now popular Methodist hymn 206:
“Ndiyakhala kuwe nkosi,
Bawo oyingcwele ndive,
Ndiyoyika kalamawa,
Mandilandwe ndigoduswe.
Enkungwini, ekufeni
Phuma langa lolungise,
Mandi ngene endleleni
Ndilubone ufufe lwakho …”
“My appeal is to you lord,
Holy Father hear me,
I’m scared among these crags,
Send for me to be taken home.
In the mist, in death
Rise for me sun of peace,
Let me find my way home
Let me experience your grace …”
The fleeing Kama and his followers got snowed in Ngqengqe, former Fort Beaufort and present-day KwaMaqoma, during that winter. He was compelled to seek the protection of his brother-in-law when he discovered they couldn’t proceed with their traveling plans.
When the War of the Axe broke out, their fleeing plans were totally jettisoned. Needing all the manpower they could muster from their alliance partners, the colonial government asked for Kama’s help during the war with a promise of providing a settlement for his people near Whittlesea. He promised to help provided he would not be made to fight against his own brother, Nkosi Phatho, who was fighting on the other side. By the time Mlanjeni’s war broke out a few years after, his brother had turned sides and fought with Kama on the British government side. Kama, during the War of the Axe, was asked to join the forces that were sent to quell the rebellious Thembu’s whose part of the land he was given after the war, the land that eventually became known as Kamastone.
As a reward for having fought with the British, Kama was given land in Kieskammahoek up to the Xesi River that traditionally belonged to amaNgqika. He asked permission to accept it from Nkosi Maqoma who allowed it, saying it is better for him than the Mfengus or some British white farmers.
Kama and his followers refused to join the Xhosa Cattle Killing mania under the advice of Methodist missionaries like William Shaw. Many among the Xhosas who also refused to kill their cattle came to associate themselves with Kama and his missionaries; thus, his nation showed great signs of growing strides. His land and people, in the end, bore the brunt of the Great Cattle Killing tensions, first because his area was seen by other Xhosa chiefs as a bulwark and hiding place for people who wished to escape from the pressures of killing their cattle. Not only this, but great ideological differences were freely discussed and ironed out among Kama’s people, the majority of whom accepted and desired the British protectorate umbrella but didn’t care much about following authentic Christian beliefs.
Kama’s land acted as a base for charity organisations to feed the greater Xhosa nation when it fell under the scourge of famine. This got him into trouble not only among other chiefs but also with Grey’s administration whose motto was to pay in food rations only to those Xhosa who signed up for public labor while starving the rest. In no time, Kama’s land was seen as the center of black education. Many missionaries concentrated their efforts there, which led to the establishment of schools like Lovedale and the Kaffir College that eventually became known as Fort Hare University.
